This invention relates to motor vehicle cargo restraint systems and more particularly to those employing tie-down loops to retain cargo in place in the cargo space of a motor vehicle.
It is desirable that the cargo carried in the cargo space of motor vehicles such as vans and trucks be restrained to prevent the cargo from shifting during vehicle operation. And especially during abrupt vehicle turning maneuvers and rapid acceleration and deceleration.
Typically, motor vehicle manufacturers provide for such cargo restraint by installing anchoring devices commonly referred to as xe2x80x9ccargo tie-down loopsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccargo tie-down ringsxe2x80x9d at various locations on the vehicle. For example, the tie-down loops may be located along interior sides of the vehicle, on the cargo floor and/or on a cargo-carrying roof. The tie-down loops are adapted to receive cargo-restraining lines such as straps and ropes, and are commonly fixed with a threaded fastener to the vehicle structure with no provision for their relocation to a different site or sites better suited for restraining cargo of a particular shape and size. As proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,718, the tie-down loops may include a push-lock feature whereby the tie-down loops are, with a pushing effort, fastened and locked in a blind manner in mounting holes provided in the vehicle structure. In the latter case, the tie-down loops cannot be unfastened for relocation as can be done with a threaded connection.
As a result and to meet the restraint requirements of a wide range of cargo having various shapes and sizes, there can be provided an abundance of tie-down loops fastened at various locations on the vehicle. There can also be provided an abundance of attaching points on the vehicle structure for those tie-down loops that can be unfastened allowing the latter to be relocated at selected ones of the available attaching points to best suit a particular cargo.
However, the provision of a large number of fixed tie-down loops in an effort to cover a wide range of cargo shapes and sizes is costly. Relocation of those tie-down loops that can be unfastened can be very time consuming, as well as require a tool such as a wrench and considerable manual effort in order to fix them in a new location.
The present invention provides the vehicle user with a cargo restraint system having cargo anchoring devices that can be easily manually located and latched and locked without a tool in a plurality of locations so as to best suit a particular cargo. This is accomplished with rails that are fixed to the vehicle structure, and anchoring devices that are referred to here-in-after as tie-down loops and are easily latched and locked with little manual effort to the rails at a plurality of latching locations spaced along the length of the rails. Moreover, the rails are versatile in that they may be fixed in various orientations to existing side structure of the vehicle bordering the cargo space, the cargo floor of the vehicle, and/or on the roof of the vehicle in the case of where the vehicle is adapted to carry cargo there.
The rails are all alike and are a relatively simple thin wall hollow part with each rail having a back wall that is fixed to the vehicle and a front wall that faces the cargo carrying space of the vehicle. The front wall has a centrally located channel extending there along and a plurality of latching notches that are located on opposite sides of the channel in laterally aligned pairs at spaced positions along the channel and interior of the rail.
The tie-down loops are also all alike and have a latching mechanism including a pawl and a spring wherein the pawl is adapted to be received through the channel in a selected one of the rails. By manual pushing on the tie-down loop against the spring, partial turning of the tie-down loop and then manual positioning of the tie-down loop along the rail, the pawl is selectively locatable opposite the aligned pairs of latching notches in the front wall of the rail. With the tie-down loop in a position on the rail selected to best suit the restraint of a particular cargo by a restraint line passing through the tie-down loop, the tie-down loop is manually released allowing the pawl to engage the selected aligned pair of notches to latch and lock the tie-on loop to the rail.
The cargo restraint system of the present invention is quite versatile in that the number of rails installed on the vehicle, as well as their location, can be varied by the vehicle manufacturer, and the number of tie-down loops supplied by the vehicle manufacturer can also be varied as one or more tie-down loops can be employed with each rail. The number of rails and their orientation and the number of tie-down loops can be specially ordered for installation by a customer to suit special needs. The cargo restraint system with various numbers of rails and tie-down loops can be simply added to a vehicle as an after market accessory.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved motor vehicle cargo restraint system.
Another object is to provide a motor vehicle cargo restraint system having tie-down loops that are easily manually positioned, latched and locked in a multitude of locations to best suit various cargo shapes and sizes.
Another object is to provide a motor vehicle cargo restraint system having rails and tie-down loops wherein the rails are fixed to the vehicle structure and the tie-down loops are easily manually positioned along and spring latched and locked to the rails in any one of a plurality of selectable locations spaced along the rails.
These and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings of an exemplary embodiment of the invention.